Mutual Opportunities
Head of Actuarial Expense Strategy
Springfield, Massachusetts; Boston, Massachusetts
Thank you to our employees for voting us one of the top places to work in Massachusetts for seven consecutive years!
Overview
At MassMutual, actuaries play a key role in the company’s strategic decision-making. They support our expanding client base by developing innovative products, identifying new market opportunities, and driving initiatives that fuel business growth.
Our actuarial team draws intellectually curious individuals who want to work somewhere where they’re empowered to make change. At MassMutual you’ll find challenging and impactful work, a culture of recognition, and a supportive growth environment.
“At MassMutual, our actuarial community is driven by a shared commitment to excellence, innovation, and impact. We empower our actuaries to grow through meaningful work, collaborative teams, and a culture that values both technical rigor and human connection. Whether you're just starting out or advancing your career, you'll find opportunities here to shape the future of financial security while building a career that matters.”
Job Description
Head of Actuarial Expense Strategy
Full-Time
Springfield, MA or Boston, MA
The Opportunity
MassMutual’s Corporate Actuarial team is seeking a dynamic and well-rounded actuary to lead the Actuarial Expense Strategy team. This highly visible and strategic role offers the opportunity to apply analytical and leadership skills to drive understanding of expense impacts across the business, influence decision-making, and deliver insights that reach the highest levels of the organization.
You’ll serve as a trusted partner to senior leaders, providing actionable expense-related analysis and recommendations that directly impact company performance. The team’s work spans all lines of business—including Life Insurance, Annuity, Disability Income, Worksite Insurance, and Institutional products—and supports key functions such as Corporate Actuarial, Finance, Underwriting, Operations, Enterprise Technology (ETX), and Product & Distribution.
The Team
The Actuarial Expense Strategy team is a high performing group of actuaries and financial professionals dedicated to shaping the company’s expense landscape through actuarial expertise, advanced analytics, and strategic insight. Distinct from Strategic Expense Management (SEM) and Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), this team is uniquely positioned at the intersection of actuarial science and business strategy, directly informing product pricing, distribution economics, and enterprise financial outcomes.
The team thrives in a fast-paced environment where bespoke analysis and ad hoc requests are common. Their work is characterized by intellectual rigor, objectivity, and a collaborative spirit, making them respected thought partners for expense-related insights across actuarial, financial, and business domains. The team thrives on solving complex, cross-functional challenges and is committed to continuous improvement, knowledge sharing, and building organizational capacity for the future.
The Impact
As Head of the team, you will lead a team of ~3 actuaries and financial professionals responsible for delivering key expense analyses and providing management decision support. Key facets of the role include:
- Delivering various Unit Expense Factor studies and assumptions used in critical business and regulatory deliverables, including Cash Flow Testing and PBR, dividends, Illustration Regulation Testing and pricing expenses
- Providing subject matter expertise on expense allocations and implications of resulting allocations across products and distribution channels, including regularly monitoring and reporting on gaps between actual and priced for expenses
- Reviewing and proposing distribution management allowances for use in product pricing and distribution-based P&Ls
- Developing vision for and executing on efforts to evolve current tools, data pipelines, reporting and processes to modern approaches, driving greater insights and capacity to undertake additional/deferred analysis
- Ad Hoc Strategic Support (e.g. M&A, reinsurance, etc.)
- Collaborate across teams to solve complex problems and drive strategic outcomes
The Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Finance, Computer/Data Science, or related quantitative field
- 10+ years of experience as an actuary or senior quantitative professional in insurance, risk, or financial services
- Strong actuarial foundation demonstrated through professional credentialing or sustained application of actuarial methodologies in complex business environments
The Ideal Qualifications
- Associate or Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (ASA or FSA) strongly preferred
- Member of the Academy of Actuaries a plus
- Deep understanding of insurance products, accounting, and profitability across multiple lines of business and distribution channels
- Highly effective communicator, both written and verbal, comfortable presenting to all levels of the organization as well as technical and non-technical audiences, and skilled in creating simple, powerful, and data-driven communications
- Strategic thinker who can apply strong actuarial and quantitative skillset to analyze a wide range of business problems, draw out insights and implications from complex data sets, and distill key conclusions into a story that drives understanding and action
- Ability to generate impact as a trusted advisor by maintaining the ability to see the big picture in inherently complex and dynamic situations and influence decision-making across senior stakeholders, demonstrating a strong sense for value in both prioritizing and solving problems
- Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity; willingness to explore multiple solutions to a problem; ability to work independently with little direction/oversight while setting direction and priorities for others
- Self-motivated and driven self-starter with demonstrated ownership for driving initiatives from concept through execution
- Able to build and maintain strong working relationships and effectively collaborate across cross-functional groups while leading and developing high-performing actuarial or quantitative professionals
- Demonstrated ability to harness and deploy modern technologies (i.e. Excel, SQL, Alteryx, Python, etc.), including generative AI, to enhance processing, manipulation, validation, and analysis of large amounts of data and drive modernization of tools, data pipelines, and reporting
#LI-LC1
MassMutual is an equal employment opportunity employer. We welcome all persons to apply.If you need an accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us and share the specifics of the assistance you need.
California residents: For detailed information about your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), please visit our California Consumer Privacy Act Disclosures page.
MassMutual will accept applications on an ongoing basis until such time as a candidate has been offered employment. The job description includes the main duties of this position, which may evolve over time. You may be required to perform other duties not listed.
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment.
Salary Range: $185,300-$243,100
Hiring Process
Explore
Explore our open jobs by clicking 'search jobs' to find a position that aligns with your experience and skills. You may also consider joining our Talent Network.
Apply
Click the “apply” button on that job posting to complete and submit your application. Your application will be reviewed by a recruiter, which, due to the volume of applications received, may take some time as we carefully consider each application.
Screen
After your application has been reviewed, if you meet the qualifications for the role, a recruiter will reach out to you to start a conversation.
Interview
If you are invited for an interview, you will be scheduled to meet with the hiring manager and hiring team.
Offer
If you are extended an offer to join MassMutual and accept, your start will be contingent upon a satisfactory background check.
Hire
If you accept the offer, we will be so excited to welcome you to the MassMutual community!
If you need an accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us and share the specifics of the assistance you need.
By the numbers*
- 85% of employee respondents say they are proud to work at MassMutual
-
90
% of employee respondents say the work they do at MassMutual is meaningful - 85% of employee respondents say they feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things
*Source: 2025 MassMutual employee engagement survey
Award-Winning Culture
MassMutual is guided by a single purpose: We help people secure their future and protect the ones they love. As a company operated for the benefit of our members and participating policyowners, we are defined by mutuality and our vision to provide financial well-being for all Americans. It’s more than our company structure — it’s our way of life. We are a company of people protecting people. Our company exists because people are willing to share risk and resources and rely on each other when it counts.
We strive to build a thriving community where everyone is valued, included, and feels that they belong.
At MassMutual, we Live Mutual.
How We Work
MassMutual’s flexible workplace approach combines the importance of connecting in person and the flexibility of working remotely. Our hybrid model puts collaboration first with employees coming in at least three days per week to our spectacular campus settings and also enjoying the flexibility of remote Fridays, company-wide remote weeks, and a bank of flexible remote weeks to use throughout the year.
Benefits for the whole you (and your loved ones)
There’s more to your life than your job and there’s more to your aspirations than a paycheck. We take a holistic view of compensation and benefits that provides the flexibility to create a healthy balance in your life for work, family, and community. We offer the benefits you’d expect, like medical, dental, 401(k), and generous vacation time, but we also offer ones you might not expect, like three paid days for volunteering, a $1,250 annual Well-Being Wallet, and up to 320 hours of caregiver leave.
Explore some of our offerings below. Benefit details can be found here.
Why MassMutual?
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